Advocates, parents continue push for pediatric brain cancer research at CWS

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Every year at the College World Series, Omaha Baseball Village hosts Flying Flags for Charity, by which it honors the eight nonprofits it works with.

On Saturday, they honored The Cure Starts Now, which raises awareness of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, or DIPG.

“It’s a pediatric brain tumor with very little information out there in the public,” said Omaha Baseball Village marketing director Jenny Peters. “More people need to know about it. Obviously, the more awareness you generate, the more funding comes in, and then more research.”

Nick Moran—whose son, Jimmy, died of the disease—said it’s important to keep having that presence at the World Series every year.

“People need to know it’s out there and it comes up quick, like something as harmless as a lazy eye or a little bit of muscle weakness,” he said.

Even before Jimmy died, DIPG’s debilitating progression was visible.

“It was a helpless feeling, but at the same time, we had to find a way to kind of not show that because we didn’t want him to think we knew how bad it was,” Moran said.

The Cure Starts Now believes finding a cure for DIPG will lead to finding a cure for all cancers, and they’re raising funds to do just that. Throughout the CWS, you can go to the table they set up by the stage at Omaha Baseball Village, scan a QR code that takes you to the Jimmy the Great chapter of The Cure Starts Now, and donate.

“The researchers that work on these things day and night are looking for just a breakthrough,” Peters said. Of course, that takes time and money.”

Last year, they raised $5,000. They hope to eclipse that this year.

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